SAN JOSE — Entering Thursday, the San Jose Earthquakes hadn’t won a match in regulation since defeating the Chicago Fire 1-0 on July 7.
They won one in 35 minutes against Mexican side Club Necaxa on Thursday night at PayPal Park. The Earthquakes exploded out of the starting gate with the first goal of the season by captain Jackson Yueill, then doubled the lead with Hernan Lopez’s opportunistic left-footed strike in the 17th minute.
Jeremy Ebobisse added a brace with goals in the 29th and 35th minutes, and the rout was on. San Jose punched its ticket to the Leagues Cup Round of 16 with a 5-0 win over its Aguascalientes-based opposition.
Substitute Paul Marie added some icing on the Earthquakes’ cake with an insurance goal off a Necaxa turnover in the 88th minute.
“We needed this,” said interim coach Ian Russell. “We needed to have a game where we just unleashed goals. It’s been coming. We’ve been unfortunate. But the difference tonight was we didn’t score and then sit back and defend. We scored and kept on pressing. Scored again and kept on pressing. We actually kept on ramping it up.
“And that’s the mentality they have to have. It can’t be it’s a goal, and then we’re going to settle. No, you get more goals. You keep scoring, keep defending, keep on doing all the little things that make you win a game.”
Thursday marked the first time the Earthquakes have scored four goals in a half of an MLS or Leagues Cup match since Oct. 20, 2021, against Austin FC. It was the first time they had done it in the first half since a tilt with FC Dallas on Oct. 22, 2011. It is also San Jose’s first time advancing to the Leagues Cup’s Round of 16.
“It’s been a challenging season,” Ebobisse said. “But the fact of the matter is, we have missed chances in a lot of games, and those chances that we have missed could have put us in positions to have successful nights like tonight. So for us, it’s an example of what we can do when we’re at our best.
“But we need more, because it’s the round of 32, and we want to try and do something a little bit more special than winning one game in this tournament.”
The reward for their prolific offensive night? The Earthquakes will turn around and face Los Angeles FC on Aug. 13 in Los Angeles. San Jose has split with LAFC this season, beating the Angelenos 3-1 on May 4 at PayPal Park and losing 6-2 on June 22 at BMO Stadium. The latter match was Luchi Gonzalez’s last as coach before he was fired on June 24.
Few expected the Earthquakes to advance this far in the Leagues Cup, and like Ebobisse — who’s bagged four goals in three tournament matches — Russell now wants San Jose to think bigger.
“We’re still frustrated at where we are in the (MLS) table, but we’re treating this like a new season,” Russell said. “We want to get as far as we can. We want to win this thing. And we play like we did tonight, we can. And the guys believe it. The staff believes it.”
The Earthquakes are now 2-0-1 in this season’s Leagues Cup. They beat Chivas de Guadalajara in penalty kicks at Levi’s Stadium, then lost a last-minute heartbreaker to the LA Galaxy at PayPal Park. Now, with a no-doubt domination of Necaxa under their belt, the proof of concept is there for the upper bound of San Jose’s potential.
“The players know they can,” Russell continued. “After (beating) Chivas, the LA game, we had big chances early. If you remember that game, we had big chances also. We didn’t finish. The difference tonight, we finished those and then we kept on finishing.”
Thursday’s win is Russell’s third in nine matches as San Jose’s man in charge and the second in regulation.